Life of Jeff

This Blog (after fat, forty and fired) is going to capture the life of Jeff. Hopefully it will provide some laughs and will act as an archive for any grandkids on my life and the lives of their parents and associated others. The "Kids" are already restive

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

while Carnarvon was an interesting place to live and work and we managed to take in the best of the region's tourism attractions - Mt Augustus, Exmouth and the NW Cape and west coast with its fantastic coral reef and other attractions, Coral Bay (and Marnie/Tony) and Shark Bay and Denham/Monkey Mia (and its dolphins) - the time had come to consider my career.

There appeared to be an opportunity for me to take over as the CEO of the Development Commission (although this was never tested) but I did not think i could stay in Carnarvon for a further 3-5 years which would have been required if I had of taken this role. So i applied for some jobs and I was fortunate enough to get employed by Woodside. I joined them on 7 July 1997 and worked initially on securing the government approvals for LNG 4 & 5. Sue and the girls came back a few weeks later and Sue got another position within the Government.

As it turned out my job was a god-send. It enabled us to come back to Perth and it was fundamentally better working for a company like this than staying in the Government. The opportunities and financial rewards offered were fantastic.

We moved into our old house (after the tenants did the bunk and i spent three weeks fixing it up). It didnt take us long to realise that it was going to be too small for us. The girls were both growing up and we needed more room.

We started looking at properties in the area (as well as anywhere around Perth within 5km of the city. After we had looked at 30-50 places I started to think we might have to build a new house, but land was not easy to come by. In her usual fashion, once she gets a bee in her bonnet, Sue went to work calling real estate agents. Again as fate would have it, she called an agent on the day he was going to talk to someone about a sub-division of a block off the back of their house and he asked if we wanted to come along.

We went - and as they say the rest is history - we bought the "block", holding it with a $5000 deposit. It took nearly 12 months for the block to actually be sub-divided but we made a tidy capital gain in that period. Once we had the block we built a new house.

Saturday, November 10, 2007

in mid 1995 i got a job in a regional area of WA (the Gascoyne region) and we moved to Carnarvon. In the end this turned out to be a great move, but it wasnt without its challenges. For a start I ended up in court but perhaps more challenging is "migrating" to a new place. God knows how people move away from families to new continents "forever".

the girls were young, and despite having lived in the country sue was relatively naive. We took food which was actually cheaper on the supermarket shelves in the town we went to (we might just have got lucky).

although we only spent two years there they were good years on reflection. Life was good, the environment was great, we had the party house and some good parties and the kids had some experiences they might never have had and especially some close encounters with animals including Sharks and Snakes as well as flying planes.

Professionally the time was interesting and fulfilling and we met and worked with some great people (Kieran and Cecilia; Chris Jones in particular). On reflection, Carnarvon was a hoot but two years were enough

Thursday, November 08, 2007

life gets interesting in 1995. I get restless and generally this is a time "eruptions" happen in my life. Work became "boring" and i was looking for some change, but i worked in the Government so change was not its strong suit. I talked to my boss but nothing happened. By mid-year i was getting really restless. I had written a resignation note (unsigned) and stuck it under my blotter. through the year i started to "withdraw" from committees etc which i thought were useless.

One day, it was actually a turning point in my (and our lives), the CEO of the agency turns up in my office and "instructs" me to rejoin a committee i had withdrawn from. We had a polite conversation and he left - fully thinking i would be "instructed". Unfortunately for him, but fortunately for me, i signed my letter and resigned that day.

I had no job to go to, but i wasnt worried.

when i got home and told Sue what i had done, she wasnt that happy. her feeling was we should have discussed it before i did it.

My view was that it was my call. But i do recognise i could have put us all at risk.

As fate would have it - the proverbial genie came out of nowhere and put us back on track.

my take from this is that, generally, if you have the balls to follow your instinct life will look after you

Thursday, June 21, 2007

life is about change (even if it seemingly stays the same). the backend of 2002 and early 2003 were the foundation stones of life as we know it today. Ash was just over two and i was circa 34. I was lighter than my current state by nearly 20kgs and i certainly had more hair. I was also in the scheme of things - poor - although i was working. But i had a job, a roof over our heads and food on the table (for the first few months) in restaurants all around town.

Early on in this period Ash and I caught the bus to daycare, i went to work, we ate out on the way home, showered/bathed, went to sleep and then did it all again the next day.

In around March 1993 our house sold and Ash and I moved to Helen's house in Mt Hawthorn. I bought a car (a nissan NXR - great car for 2).

Sue and i started going out seriously around this time - Georgia was ~4 and Paul would have been ~12/13 although he was not with us, as he lived with his Dad in various places in the eastern states and came over, at least in the initial years only at Xmas.

After a while Sue and I spent more and more time together. As we were both renting (or in Sue's case house minding) we eventually decided to move in together. We did not rent together, we basically just bought a house together around October 93 i think.

In retrospect this worked out but it could have been real interesting if our relationship hadnt worked out. As with many of the key choices we have made along the way this purchase was "impetuous" (i am not a great shopper so we did not look around much and at the time i was not that sophisticated in an investment sense) so the decision went a bit like - do you like it/is it fair value/can we afford it (yes) ok its bought.

Everyone will remember different things about this time but my enduring memories are:

riding on the bus with Ash

telling alf and allison, Karen and I had split up

having a birthday party at the Leeming house

having to take Ash back to her own bed (in Helen's house) because she had a habit of climbing in next to me (and Sue "made" me)

georgia cowering in the corner, with a cuddly toy or doll, because i had shouted at her for something - crying (not sure why it sticks but it does)

sue and i getting around in the NXR with the roof down/off

selling the NXR - it was not a family car (another bad investment but fun while it lasted!!)

When we moved in together we really began the process of trying to join families (or blending them) together. - as most people who have split and get into new relationships can attest this is never easy and we have had, and continue to this day to have, our moments.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

in my life i have really had circa 3 or 4 lives (or compartments of life) these are:

0-18

18 - 25

25-32

32+

I have described/commented on much of the time up to time period 3. so the next life really commences in the period 32+ (circa late 1992/3).

so what happened around this time? my wife Karen and i split and after we sold our house ash (still a very little girl) and i moved into Helen's house in Mt Hawthorn. this was an older house (now worth a squillion) close to the city (and work).

in the February of 1993 i had a birthday party which many people felt was a bit strange. It was in our house and Karen (and her new boyfriend at the time - Dave) and Karen's parents and my family and sue all came (this was less than 3 months after we split up). Looking back it seems a little bit strange (but at the time it was fine).

Around this time Sue and I really started seeing each other seriously and the beginnings of a family started as she had Georgia (about 4) and Paul (older). in the beginning Sue and I, after she split from Brian, would see each other a few nights a week and there was a period when Sue looked after other peoples houses sharing one with Rhonda (a girl involved in basketball).

so the next life (and all of its joys, trials and tribulations) is about to begin

I looked at this blog today for first time in ages (you know if you type "this" wrong - often you get shit). some of what i wrote earlier was funny and some challenging, but it really is my story and it does need to be told (at least for me).

The last real post effectively got us to the time when my ex-wife Karen and i separated. This was effectively 15 years ago so much water (and life) has poured under the bridge since then.

So now we are going to meander down the river of life over the past 15 years.

Saturday, September 30, 2006

In March, Daughter X was looking for cheap entertainment. In between Daughter Y was being uncomfortable with the story to date. Number 1 person in life has never really commented, so here goes (out of order - if history annoys you get over it).

LIFE IN 2006

so what the hell happened between 1993 and 2006? Some of it is described below but much will forever go unstated (at least here).

In 2006:

we live in a different house to 1993- yes there is a story to this

the girls are turning 18 (G) and 16 (A) and the Boy - P - is turning a bigger number

sue works in a different place

Jeff works in the same place

the most significant changes happen to individuals. some grow and some change (and ultimately diminish - this is scary). the girls cleary have grown the most - both transitioning from pupae to butterfly in front of everyone. P has grown (at least when last seen) but largely in the same frame, as did S & J (who really are both in diminish like it or not).

on my own i have grown and reduced within the range from 90 -100kg so who knows what this looks like from the outside. remember when A was born i was 75Kg and had been for 10 years (some "transformation"). Today i was 94kg.

I know i have to fill in the gap but i need to do this in a meaningful and sensitive manner (but not tonight)